Mourinho To Conte: Stop Humiliating United With Your Goal Celebration

Jose Mourinho has accused Antonio Conte of humiliating Manchester United with his touchline behaviour during Chelsea’s 4-0 victory on Sunday.

Mourinho, who was facing the Blues for the first time since parting ways with the club last season, was humbled on his return to Stamford Bridge as Chelsea ran riot in front of their home support.

Pedro opened the scoring for the hosts after just 31 seconds, before Gary Cahill and Eden Hazard put Chelsea firmly in control of the match. However, it was N’Golo Kante’s fourth goal – and the manner of Conte’s typically wild celebrations that followed – to which Mourinho took exception.

At the final whistle the Portuguese shook hands with Conte before appearing to attack the Italian for his celebrations in the wake of Kante’s strike. “It’s my opinion, but you do it at 1-0 – not at 4-0,’ Mourinho seemed to tell Conte in Italian. ‘That’s humiliation for us.’

However, in his post-match interview, Mourinho refused to confirm what exactly he had said to Conte and insisted the matter was solely between the two managers.  ‘It was with Antonio, not with you,’ Mourinho told Sky Sports. ‘Of course not… I was speaking with Antonio, not with you. I am sorry.’

The controversial incident capped a miserable day for the United manager, who watched Pedro put the hosts ahead inside 31 seconds. Cahill was allowed to add a soft second from inside the six-yard box soon after, before Hazard grabbed a goal his performance deserved with a fine finish from 14 yards out. The Belgium international then set up Kante for Chelsea’s fourth – sparking Conte into a typically frenetic celebration with his technical staff on the touchline.

Mourinho admitted his side paid a heavy price for early individual mistakes and, as a result, were picked off on the counter-attack in the second half. “We made incredible defensive mistakes,’ he said. ‘Individual defensive mistakes and you pay for that. Then if you equalise after the 1-0 or if you score the 2-1 after the 2-0 you have a big chance because in terms of football the team was quite comfortable.

“We knew we were going to have space with our full-backs because of the way they play. We did that in the second half and we played with Marcus Rashford through the middle to create more mobility from Zlatan’s position.

“We played with just two midfield players and we had no problems at all and we had control of the game. But the control is a bit dangerous because Chelsea have great players on the counter-attack who are just waiting for that.”

Despite the manner of his side’s defeat, Mourinho remained optimistic over United’s chances of success this season and pointed to, what he perceives to be, a favourable run of upcoming league fixtures.

“In terms of points it is zero points,’ he said. ‘When you lose 1-0 or 4-0 you lose three points, you don’t lose four, five or six points. You lose three points.  “We are six points from the top of the league and we are I think maybe three or four from the top four. We now need to win matches. We had a week with two matches away to two candidates – Liverpool and Chelsea – and now other teams from the top five have to play between themselves.

“We need to win our matches which are not easy but we play Burnley, we play Swansea, we play West Ham and we need to win matches to close the gap. After these last three matches in the league we have two draws and one defeat. We made two points out of nine. Now what we need is points.”

Mourinho will be hoping to see his side bounce back at the first time of asking when United face cross-city rivals Manchester City in the League Cup on Wednesday evening.  Chelsea, meanwhile, are also in League Cup action that night as they travel across London to face West Ham.

Pogba should forget record fee, play freely for Manchester United – Mourinho

Jose Mourinho wants Paul Pogba to forget his world-record price tag and show Manchester United his true quality.

A summer of discussion bore fruit five weeks ago when the open secret of the 23-year-old’s Old Trafford return from Juventus was made official.

United paid an eye-watering €105 million euros (£89 million) to bring back a player who left them four years earlier in search of first-team football, with a further €5m (£4.25m) due if certain targets are met.

It is a remarkable, record-breaking fee that sees Pogba stand alone as the world’s most expensive player ever — a price tag that appeared to weigh heavily in United’s disappointing back-to-back defeats to Manchester City and Feyenoord.

Mourinho had expected the Frenchman’s tail-off after his bright start to life at United, and now wants him to block out the background noise that comes with his status.

“The world-record player is always a question that will be open until somebody breaks the record,” Mourinho said. “I think there are clubs that paid 20, 30, 40 [million pounds], which is a bigger deal than what Man United paid for Paul because you make a relation between what you pay and the club revenue.

“You realise that other clubs paying 20, 30, 40 is a much bigger thing than what Man United did, and I just want Paul to forget that and to play his football.

“Euro final, no preseason, holidays, come back — it’s normal that in the first week he had the very good impact in the first game.

“It’s normal that after the first game he has a little decrease, but I am full of trust with him because I know the player he is.

“I know that he is a very good guy with a lot of ambition, so the form will come naturally and will come with the team. The team improves, Paul improves. No problem.”

Pogba’s form tallies with United’s own drop-off after their winning start to life under Mourinho came to a shuddering halt.

They head to Watford on Sunday looking to avoid a third straight defeat, which could see them fall six points behind Pep Guardiola’s City after just five matches.

“You are right, it is early days,” Mourinho said. “I prefer to be four in front than four behind, that’s obvious, but as you are saying it’s very early days.”

Asked, though, if Watford was the biggest match of his short reign given the events of this week, Mourinho said: “Watford? I think Man United has to show every game, every game, every competition.

“The club is too big, the supporters are too passionate for the professionals not to feel that every game is a very important game, so I don’t think they should need a defeat or in this case two defeats to try to give everything they have to give.

“It should belong to them and that is what I expect from them — it is that on Sunday we will try to win the match, normal.”

A good start would certainly help United’s chances in Hertfordshire, given the sloppy and unwieldy first-half displays that played a large part in their downfall in both the Manchester derby and their Europa League opener.

“Look, I always say that the best motivation you can have is your own motivation,” Mourinho added. “If you need other people to motivate you … I always feel that my job is that I am an extra source of motivation, but the motivation belongs to the players.

“And if the players at this age need … the great life, the money, they have to do what they want, I think they shouldn’t need an extra source of motivation.

“The motivation belongs to themselves so I believe in that, I believe that on Sunday they will try to win the match, try to give absolutely everything and it will be just by them to try to help.”

Pogba can be world’s best player – Mourinho

Jose Mourinho

Paul Pogba can fulfil his dream of becoming the world’s best player by returning to his former club Manchester United, his manager-in-waiting Jose Mourinho declared on Sunday.

Pogba, 23, is close to returning to Old Trafford for a reported world-record fee of 89 million pounds ($116.4 million, 105 million euros) after United and Juventus confirmed he was due to undergo a medical.

The France midfielder makes no secret of his desire to usurp Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the world’s foremost player and Mourinho believes he will achieve that ambition at United.

“I think United is the perfect club to bring him to the level that he wants to be,” Mourinho said after United beat Leicester City 2-1 at Wembley in the season-opening Community Shield.

“The Premier League is the perfect habitat for that. If you want to be the best player in the world, I think if you go to Barcelona or to Real Madrid, you are in trouble.

“Because I don’t think the other two big guys will let you develop to that level.

“Here he has the conditions to develop in the most seen worldwide championship, which is absolutely incredible, with a team that wants to bring Man United to the top again.

“So we have everything to give him and we know the reasons why he wants to come to us. Money he will get from any big club. That’s not the point.

“He comes because he knows the club, knows the city, knows many of the players. He wants to be an important part of the Man United project. So hopefully everything goes well and he comes into our team.”

Mourinho had earlier told BT Sport: “It’s amazing that such a good player is with us. Finally we have him.”

The transfer saga took a huge step forward when Juventus announced they had granted permission for Pogba to undergo a medical at United, the club he left four years ago.

– ‘Talk very soon’ –

United confirmed the news with a short statement on their club website saying the medical would enable Pogba to “finalise his transfer from Juventus to Manchester United”.

Pogba, who was part of the France side that lost to Portugal in the Euro 2016 final last month, tweeted enigmatically: “When too many people talk nobody understands — talk very soon.”

Early signs that a deal was imminent came when Pogba did not travel with the Juventus squad to London for their 3-2 friendly win over West Ham United on Sunday.

Media reports said he had already arrived in Manchester.

Pogba, who has won four Serie A titles with Juventus and reached the 2015 Champions League final, has been courted assiduously by United, who received just 1.5 million pounds when he left in 2012.

They faced reported competition from European champions Real Madrid, amid speculation that Pogba would have preferred to link up with his compatriot Zinedine Zidane at the Bernabeu.

But Madrid, who have paid huge money for stars like Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo in recent years, did not pursue the player, leaving Pogba with a choice between moving to United or remaining with Juventus.

A reported initial 86 million pounds bid was rejected by Juventus.

Pogba’s arrival will secure the four signings Mourinho had set his sights on when he replaced Louis van Gaal at the end of last season.

Pogba will join young Ivorian defender Eric Bailly, Armenian international Henrikh Mkhitaryan and veteran Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic in arriving at Old Trafford this summer.